MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President
Benigno Aquino accused China on Monday of violating a 12-year-old
informal code of conduct in the South China Sea with land reclamation
work in a disputed shoal.

China has stepped up activity to assert its claim to most of the
energy-rich South China Sea.

But Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have
claims over parts of the sea through which about $5 trillion of
ship-borne goods pass every year.

China's activity has in particular raised alarm in the Philippines
and in Vietnam, where a dispute over an offshore drilling rig
sparked deadly anti-Chinese riots last week.

China and the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) signed an agreement in 2002 to refrain from occupying
uninhabited reefs and shoals in the sea, and from building new
structures that would complicate disputes.

"In our view, what they are doing there now is in violation of what
we had agreed in the Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South
China Sea," Aquino told reporters.

"The problem is this code is not binding, not enforceable, so we
need to come up with a formal code of conduct to resolve the dispute
and prevent any potential conflict."

Last week, the Philippine foreign ministry released surveillance
photographs of China's reclamation work in Johnson South Reef in the
disputed Spratly Islands. China appears to be building an airstrip,
its first in the Spratlys.

Peter Paul Galvez, a Philippine Defense Department spokesman, said
the military noticed the reclamation work early this year. A Chinese
airstrip in the area could pose a serious threat to security and
stability in the region, he said.